


Search Me

by scorperion21



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Scorpius Malfoy, Coming Out, Cursed Child compliant, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Albus Severus Potter, Getting Together, M/M, Post Cursed Child, albus loves him for that, bed sharing, scorpius is a major dork who doesn't understand technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29263065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorperion21/pseuds/scorperion21
Summary: In which Scorpius is hopeless with technology, or: Albus introduces Scorpius to the internet but Scorpius doesn't understand how private tabs work.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 96





	Search Me

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a long time coming so I hope it's been worth it and you enjoy! super inspired by a trend howlsmvingcstle (on Twitter) started and a tweet from LittleRose13 in about July (it has seriously been a long time coming). stay safe, be well ~

“Why is there a h in ghost?” 

Albus pauses the scratching of his quill at the sound of his sister’s voice breaking up the monotony of the Potter siblings study session. He looks across the dining table at Lily, her head bent over her History of Magic textbook. 

“What?” he asks, not entirely convinced she actually said what he thinks he has heard. It is, after all, a strange question to ask whilst they are all supposed to be doing summer homework. 

“Why is there a h in ghost?” Lily asks again, a little adamant this time, as she looks up and between Albus and James, who is seated next to her. 

James glances over at Albus, and they swap the _look_. It is a look they use when they have realised Lily has got a bee in her bonnet about something, and won’t let it go until she’s got an answer. Albus sometimes wonders how _she’s_ not the Slytherin sibling. 

“I don’t know Lils. And what made you think about that specifically, instead of writing an essay about History of Magic? As you should be doing.” James says, leaning back in his chair and twisting his neck to the side with an audible crack. 

Lily shrugs. “I don’t know really. But I’ve just written ghost about fifteen thousand times and it made me wonder.” 

There’s silence for a moment, and Albus wonders if, like him, his siblings are thinking about the etymology of certain words in the English language. 

“I bet Scorpius knows.” Albus says after a few seconds with a self-satisfied shrug. 

“I will resign as Quidditch captain if Scorpius knows the answer to that.” James says, laughing slightly. 

“You’ll resign if Scorpius knows what?” Scorpius says, coming into the kitchen. 

He has been staying over at the Potter’s house for a few days, in what might be Albus’ favourite summer holiday yet. It certainly beats the previous year, anyway, which ended with an argument with his dad and then... well Albus doesn’t want to dwell on that on this fine summer day. 

“Lily was just wondering why there’s a h in ghost.” Albus explains as Scorpius sits back in the seat next to him. Almost instantly, Scorpius’ eyes light up in the way that Albus knows means he is about to enter full geek mode. He ignores the funny little skip his heart has started to do at the sight of that (and any of Scorpius’ expressions, although that’s another thing he has decided not to dwell on; once Albus realised the things he was feeling about his friend were perhaps a little bit more than platonic he had panicked for days before carefully filing them away in his brain under ‘things-not-to-think-about'. Although if he does, every so often, imagine what it would be like to kiss Scorpius, or to hold hands with him, or to go to sleep curled up with him who can blame him? Scorpius is everything to him, and he really thinks he should have seen this coming). 

“Well, when William Caxton bought the first printing press to England he came over from Bruges and bought Flemish typesetters with him. Many words beginning with “g” in Flemish are followed by a “h”, so originally other words had silent h’s like girl, goose, goat... that sort of thing. But a lot of them were dropped. I suppose ghost looks better with a h in.” Scorpius enthuses, pulling Albus out of his reverie. He can feel a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he watches Scorpius, his hands gesturing the way he often does when he’s describing something he’s passionate about (history being one of the main ones). 

Albus will never tire of hearing Scorpius’ voice, the quiet tiredness of it in the morning, the way it gets faster and impassioned when he’s talking about a subject he cares about, the soft and comforting way he speaks to Albus in the middle of the night when Albus is shocked awake by nightmares. He thinks Scorpius’ voice might be his number one favourite sound. 

“That can’t be true.” James says, his voice cutting through Albus’ thoughts. Albus looks over at his siblings; James looks sceptical but Lily looks pretty impressed. 

“It is!” Scorpius insists, opening of his textbooks as he does so, “I can’t remember where I read it but I can find out!” 

“Oh, I’ll just google it.” Lily says, picking up her phone from beside her. The younger Potters (and some of the Weasleys) have a variety of Muggle devices that they use outside of school, but Albus’ parents and various aunts and uncles still can’t quite get to grips with them. It mostly means that they just use them to communicate with each other, although Lily still keeps in touch over the holidays with a few friends she made at the Muggle primary school the Potter siblings attended before moving up to Hogwarts. 

“You’ll... what?” Scorpius says, confusion clouding his tone and his head tilting slightly to the side. 

“Google it.” Lily repeats, tapping at her phone and not looking up. Scorpius looks to Albus, a slight desperate look on his face the way he does when someone starts talking about something Muggle that he doesn’t understand. 

“It’s a website,” Albus begins, picking up his tablet (something Scorpius has been endlessly fascinated by since his arrival, and Albus often finds him playing games or watching something when Albus is otherwise engaged) “and you can just search things up on it. You know, if you had a question about something or wanted to learn about anything.” 

“Anything?” Scorpius asks, delighted again. 

“Pretty much.” Albus says with a shrug, navigating to the search bar and handing his tablet over to Scorpius, “Give it a try if you want.” 

Scorpius’ fingers hover over the keyboard, and Albus can tell that he is seriously debating his choices. He thinks this might one of Scorpius’ worst nightmares; give him access to an infinite amount of knowledge and he won’t know what to search first. 

“Oh wow, it is true!” Lily says suddenly, looking up from her phone with a laugh. “What Scorpius said, about the Flemish people and the printing press.” 

“Does that mean I get to captain the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year?” Scorpius asks, looking at James with a grin. 

James groans loudly and drops his heads onto his pile of books, to the sound of laughter around him. 

\- - - 

Albus prefers the evenings to the daytime when Scorpius is here, for entirely selfish reasons. During the day, Albus finds that Scorpius’ attention can be diverted by a number of things; Harry and Ginny trying to speak to him about school and how his dad is (Albus is grateful for this mostly as he likes how much they are trying with his best friend), or by James asking them to come outside to practice Quidditch drills, or Lily has a thousand and one questions about a subject that she isn’t studying yet but insists she should allowed to be. Scorpius is far too polite to decline anything, and so his (and thereby Albus’) days have often been filled with activity and business. 

The evenings are solely for the two of them – Albus has been introducing Scorpius to Muggle shows that he thinks Scorpius might like, and is warmed by Scorpius’ endless enthusiasm and interest. They can also talk in the solitary confinement of Albus’ room, or stay up all night eating sweets and stargazing. Albus knows that when the lesson comes in which they learn to cast a Patronus, he will be using the memory of one of those nights to do it. 

The evening is currently drawing in, and Albus and Scorpius are engaged in a healthy chess match that has already lasted for a couple of days. They both love chess, but find that sometimes they can be talking for hours between moves without either of them realising it. 

“Do you want to watch something again tonight before we go to sleep?” Albus asks, looking up from the chess board and at Scorpius, whose brow is furrowed in concentration. “Scor.” Albus repeats, and he blushes at the obvious fondness dripping in his voice. 

“Sorry, I was listening,” Scorpius says looking up, his expression clearing. “that would be really nice, thanks!” 

“Any preferences?” Albus asks. There are a few programmes he’s shown to Scorpius, and there are a couple that Scorpius had been more enthused about than others. 

“I liked the one about the politician lady trying to build a park.” Scorpius says. He looks down at the chess board again and smiles broadly before moving his queen. “Checkmate!” 

“Okay, I think it’s time for bed.” Albus grumbles, sweeping the rest of the chess pieces off the board and back into the box. 

Scorpius laughs. “You’re such a sore loser!” 

“Shut up.” Albus says, but he smiles because he just can’t help it. Scorpius smiles back, and Albus feels his cheeks heat up a little. He doesn’t understand sometimes how long it took him to realise how beautiful his best friend is. Before he can get too caught up in his thoughts, Albus gets up to stash the chess set away and gather his things for bed. 

He’s halfway out his bedroom door when Scorpius’ voice calls him back. “Al? Please can I borrow your tablet thing? I’ve thought of something I want to look up.” 

“Yeah, of course!” Albus picks up his tablet and opens up the search bar again. Since that morning, Scorpius has been stressing because he is desperately interested in using the internet but couldn’t think of anything to search. Apparently, it had to be out of the ordinary and Scorpius kept lamenting because he couldn’t think of anything that was spectacular enough. 

“Thanks.” Scorpius starts typing with one finger the same way Albus has seen his older relatives do; he can’t help but smile fondly at his friend even though it winds him up when other people do it. 

Albus quickly showers and changes for bed (he debates cleaning his teeth, but knows that he and Scorpius will undoubtedly be tearing into another bag of sweets while they watch tv) and when he goes back into his bedroom, Scorpius is curled up on his side on the bed, his face lit up from the light of the tablet and engrossed in whatever he’s reading. 

“You alright?” Albus asks. Scorpius looks up from the tablet and nods before getting up to use the bathroom too. Albus shrugs it off and then takes the space on the bed that Scorpius has just vacated. He picks up the tablet to get the show ready, and when it re-opens to the search page, he realises he never showed Scorpius how to close tabs or clear his browser history. 

He scrolls back up to the search bar and sees what Scorpius has been looking at, and he feels his heart sinking. Scorpius has typed, and Albus guesses it was typed painstakingly slowly and carefully which inexplicably causes tears in his eyes, _is there a way to stop having nightmares?_

Albus’ fingers are trembling slightly as he taps on the history tab at the bottom of the screen, and sees that the couple of searches Scorpius has made while Albus was out of the room are all variations of the same. 

_I want to know how to stop feeling anxious all the time._

_How can I stop overthinking everything?_

_Tips on how to deal with panic attacks._

He feels _awful;_ since his and Scorpius’ jaunt last year they have both been suffering terribly with nightmares and their mental health and they are both learning ways to cope with everything that happened. Albus knows Scorpius has always had a predisposition for nightmares and anxious thoughts though, and what happened to them last year has just made it a lot worse. There isn’t a day that goes by when Albus doesn’t hate himself for what he put Scorpius through, no matter how many times Scorpius tells him that he shouldn’t, that it wasn’t his fault, that Scorpius could have stopped him at any time but chose to follow Albus as he always will. Albus blinks and a few tears dribble down his cheeks at the same moment that Scorpius comes back in the room. 

“Are you okay?” Scorpius sounds alarmed and concerned, and all Albus can think about is how that is just so typically _Scorpius_. His best friend who is worried about Albus when in reality it is Albus who should be worrying about his best friend. Before Albus even really thinks about what he’s doing, he drops the tablet and launches himself at Scorpius to tackle him into a tight hug that he hopes conveys how sorry and awful he feels. 

“Hey, hey it’s okay, you’re okay.” Scorpius says gently, but hugging Albus back just as tightly. Albus wishes he could stay there long enough for all the broken bits of him to stick back together. He also realises that Scorpius thinks there’s something wrong with _him._ Albus regretfully pulls away from Scorpius and wipes hurriedly at his face. 

“I’m not upset for me Scor, I saw what you searched. I thought things were getting better?” Albus says, and a shadow of something crosses Scorpius face before it settles somewhere between weariness and confusion. He doesn’t say anything, just shrugs and looks down at his sock-cladded feet. It’s a testament to their friendship that Albus knows exactly what he means; that things haven’t been getting better only he didn’t know how to tell Albus that, and now he’s worried about what might happen tonight and if he has a nightmare Albus will know exactly how _not better_ things are. Scorpius really can get across a lot in one shrug. “We don’t have to talk about it, it’s okay.” Albus adds softly, and Scorpius shuffles his feet slightly before looking up. 

“Things mostly _are_ getting better, but it’s the times that they’re not that worry me.” Scorpius admits, and Albus nods. It’s the times that they’re not that he worries about too. “And when things aren’t okay they _really_ aren’t okay.” 

“Scorpius, why didn’t you tell me?” Albus asks, going back over to the bed and curling up on it. 

Scorpius follows, and waits until he’s stacked a couple of pillows behind his back and leant against them before he speaks. “Because you get so upset when I’m not okay. I want you to stop blaming yourself for what happened last year, and I thought that if you thought I was better then you would. I should have told you, I’m sorry.” 

Albus takes a second to digest this, and feels the hot sick feeling of guilt inside him. Scorpius has been suffering in silence for he doesn’t know how long because he thought it would spare Albus’ own feelings. “You haven’t got anything to be sorry for. Please don’t hide how you’re feeling. I know I’m not a Healer or anything but I might be able to help you.” Albus reaches out and squeezes Scorpius’ arm.

Scorpius looks over to Albus and then covers his hand and squeezes ever so slightly back. “You do always help make me feel better.” he admits and Albus feels a small smile tug at the corners of his lips. 

“You always make me feel better.” 

Scorpius _does_ smile then, the genuine and fond smile Albus has noticed is reserved especially for him, and he feels his pulse fluttering slightly. He removes his hand from Scorpius’ arm because he thinks if he doesn’t he would leave it there all night. 

“How did you know what I searched anyway?” Scorpius asks after a beat of silence that goes on just a second too long for him to be entirely comfortable. 

“You didn’t close your tab or clear the browser history.” Albus says simply, opening up the tablet and demonstrating how to do so. Scorpius watches with the only kind of attentive interest that he seems to show to Albus (which is another thing that sets Albus’ heart racing). “If you forget that though you can always open a private tab and then whatever you search won’t stay there anyway.” Albus adds as an explanation and opening up a private tab. 

“Okay, thank you.” Scorpius says, settling back against the pillows and then nudging Albus in the arm slightly. “Not that I think there’s anything I’ll want to search that needs to be kept private.” 

“Well, you know, just in case! And feel free to borrow it if you think of anything.” 

“Thanks. Now are we gonna watch this show or what?” Scorpius asks, before grinning conspiratorially and leaning under the bed for a second. Albus blinks confusedly before Scorpius sits back up with a paper bag in his hand. “We’ve still got loads of sweets to get through!” 

Albus shakes his head in faux-exasperation, although he can’t help the small smile that tugs at his mouth. “Alright, come on then.” 

\- - - 

When Albus wakes up the next morning, Scorpius is not in the half of the bed that he has claimed for his own over the summer. Albus is encompassed by a blind panic for a second, eyes darting wildly round the room, until he sees that Scorpius is already dressed and curled up in Albus’ window seat with his head in a book. Panic subsiding, Albus smiles sleepily and pulls the covers tighter around himself, shifting around until he is fully facing his best friend. He could watch Scorpius read for hours (and he’s so aware that that falls miles outside of platonic friend feelings, but he’s got to indulge in his crush a little from time to time) because Scorpius is never more at peace then when he is reading a book. Albus loves the way Scorpius reads; loves the way he mouths certain words, the way his expressions change with the plot of the story and the small crease he gets between his eyebrows. Albus never allows himself to look for too long though because he’s too worried about getting caught. 

He watches Scorpius turn half a dozen pages or so before he decides he’s being overly creepy. 

“Good morning.” he says, and Scorpius immediately looks over as his face breaks into a smile. 

“Good morning sleepy.” 

Albus rolls his eyes as he sits up, making sure the cover is still pulled up. “It’s barely ten o’clock Scorp.” 

“Yeah and I’ve been up for hours.” Scorpius insists, closing his book and getting up. He stretches his arms above his head and Albus pointedly looks away when his shirt rides up to reveal a small strip of his belly. “We’ve only got a couple of days left until I have to go home and I want to make the most of it.” 

Albus looks back at him and realises that Scorpius has said something quite sweet. He thinks at one time he might have said something sarcastic back but he’s trying to let himself feel more around Scorpius. “Yeah okay, I’ll get up. What do you want to do today?” 

Scorpius shrugs. “I don’t know really.” 

“Great Scor, fantastic.” Albus says drily, but he clambers out of bed anyway. “I’m going to get dressed while you decide.” 

“Why do I have to decide?” Scorpius asks incredulously as he watches Albus move round the room collecting clothes. 

“Because you’re the guest.” Albus throws him a smile as he leaves the room and laughs to himself at the indignant splutter Scorpius lets out. Albus is starting to try and gently guide Scorpius out of his comfort zone, and forcing him to make decisions is one of the ways how. Albus doesn’t think Scorpius is entirely on board with it yet. 

When he gets back to his room, Scorpius is back on the window seat but instead he is reading something on Albus’ tablet again. Albus immediately wonders (or worries might be more accurate) what he’s reading and then tries to get himself to calm down. They’d had that chat last night and he’s fairly certain Scorpius will keep to what he said about telling Albus if something is wrong. 

“We can stay inside and read all day if you want.” Albus says instead, putting the hoodie and pyjama bottoms he wears for bed in a pile on his pillow. Scorpius puts the tablet down and shakes his head. 

“Can we go for walk and a picnic?” 

Okay _that_ takes Albus by surprise, but he thinks that it sounds lovely. “Sure.” 

Albus is fairly certain he will agree to anything to make Scorpius smile like that. 

\- - - 

It’s the evening again and Albus is lying on his back on his bed, reminiscing about the day. He and Scorpius went for a walk around the village, shopping for bits for their picnic until they found the perfect tree to sit beneath (Scorpius has lots of feelings about what the correct type of tree to have a picnic under is). They’d eaten their fill of bread, cheese, crisps and chocolate, talking about nothing. Albus already knows it will be one of his most cherished memories. 

He’s also worried about Scorpius again though. There were times when they were out that it looked like he wanted to say something but he talked himself out of it. Albus hopes there’s nothing wrong, and he wonders if he should ask. He also thinks that if it’s something Scorpius wanted to talk about then he would. All he can do is wait until Scorpius is ready. 

“Can we watch some more of that show tonight?” Scorpius asks from where he is sitting at Albus’ desk, writing a letter to his parents. Albus thinks it’s quite sweet that he still wants to write a letter to them even though he’s going to be home in a couple of days. Albus sits up and leans back on his palms. 

“Of course. I think we’ve got some more sweets left too.” 

“You read my mind.” Scorpius grins and gets up, folding his letter as he does so. 

“Thanks. I’ll just post this, go for a shower and then we can watch?” Scorpius says, counting off his tasks on his fingers as he does so. It’s one of Scorpius’ more endearing traits – although at this point Albus thinks he might just be too into Scorpius and finds everything he does endearing. 

“Yep, I’ll get it set up for when you get back.” 

“Thanks! Feel free to find the other sweets in my bag as well.” Scorpius says, exiting the room. Albus hears the quiet patter of him going downstairs to find Albus’ owl Fleamont and Albus hauls himself up off the bed. He quickly changed into his evening wear and after an unfruitful hunt for his tablet he realises that the last time he saw it was when Scorpius was using it that morning. He grabs it from his window seat and then curls back up on his quilt, unlocking the device at the same time. 

What he sees makes his heart pound so hard he thinks he might be in danger of passing out. Scorpius has opened a private tab but not closed it, and the tab is open to an article about coming out. More specifically about how to come out to your friends. Albus knows he’s not meant to see this, and knows even more that he shouldn’t press back, but he does, and sees that the search bar says _how to tell my best friend I’m bisexual._ Albus swallows thickly (is this what Scorpius was looking at this morning? Is this what he’s been trying to tell Albus all day?) and decides the best course of action is just to pretend he hasn’t seen it. That way Scorpius can tell him when he’s ready. 

He doesn’t count on the second tab that pops up after he closes the first one. Albus can’t even begin to comprehend what it says there. 

_How do I tell my best friend that I’m bisexual and I_ _fancy_ _him?_

Albus wordlessly opens and closes his mouth for a second. He thinks his brain might have shut down. He closes that tab too and stares numbly into space. So, Scorpius is bisexual. And apparently fancies him…?! Albus’ heart does a happy little squirm at that and he flops back down onto his back, hugging the tablet to his chest and grinning wider than he thinks he ever has before. 

And then his grin fades as he realises that he doesn’t know what to do next. He wants to talk about it with Scorpius, of course, but how does he do that? Scorpius clearly hasn’t been ready to talk about it with him - although the fact that he’s been searching for ideas on how to do so perhaps shows that he is ready. Albus wouldn’t put it past Scorpius to try and prepare for such a moment as this as much as he could. 

Basically, he doesn’t want to force Scorpius to come out before he’s ready. Albus sometimes feels like his entire purpose in life is to make Scorpius as comfortable as possible. Especially after everything that he put Scorpius through last year. 

He stares up at his ceiling for a few more moments, his heart almost slowing back down to normal, but before he can decide what to do Scorpius comes back into the room. Albus glances over at him and feels the happy little squirm come back; Scorpius is always cute but one of Albus’ favourite of his looks is just-ready-for-bed-Scorpius with slightly damp hair and cosy pyjamas. Yeah, Albus is definitely just too in to him. 

“Okay?” Scorpius asks and Albus nods and sits up, navigating quickly away from Google and over to the show. Scorpius shoots him a funny smile but settles next to him on the bed anyway, placing the bag of sweets between them and pulling his knees up to his chest. 

Albus curls up too and starts the show, although he’s not concentrating on it at all. His mind is too full of the revelations that have come to light this evening, and it’s not helping that Scorpius is in such close proximity. All Albus can focus on is how good Scorpius’ fancy coconut shampoo smells. He’s also getting stressed about whether he should tell Scorpius what he knows but he’s not sure if Scorpius would appreciate it or not. 

Scorpius seems to notice that his attention is diverted because barely five minutes in, he reaches over and pauses the show. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Scorpius asks gently, tapping Albus lightly on the arm. 

“Yeah I’m fine.” Albus mutters, not taking his eyes off the tablet, his indecision coming out in a hostile tone that makes him wince internally. 

“You can tell me Albus.” 

“There’s nothing to tell you. I’m _fine_ Scorpius, just leave it.” Albus snaps, and he feels Scorpius deflate next to him. 

“Alright.” he says quietly, and Albus hates himself for how small he’s made Scorpius’ voice. He glances over and Scorpius has got that guarded, reserved look he gets on his face when he’s upset. 

Albus sighs, and relents immediately. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

“It’s okay.” Scorpius mumbles, but Albus knows it’s not. He puts his tablet down on the side table and turns to give Scorpius his full attention. 

“It isn’t.” 

It’s Scorpius’ turn to look annoyed now, and a flash of it goes across his face. “No, it isn’t. We just had a conversation _yesterday_ about me not telling you when things aren’t good. And now you’re doing the same thing to me!” 

“I know, I know. I just... I don’t really know what to say.” Albus says helplessly, and Scorpius’ expression softens slightly. 

“It’s okay.” the corners of his mouth twitch but he doesn’t quite smile. “You don’t have to but... tell me if you want.” 

Albus sighs and twists the duvet round his hands. “I saw what you searched.” he says quietly, so that Scorpius can pretend not to have heard him if he wants to. 

Surprisingly, Scorpius seems to relax slightly. “I know, you told me.” 

Albus is confused for a second before he realises what Scorpius is getting at. “Not yesterday. Earlier, about you being...” he trails off because he doesn’t know if he’s allowed to say it out loud, not sure if even Scorpius has ever said it out loud. He’s not told Albus, and he’s the only one Scorpius tells everything too. As far as Albus knows, anyway. But Scorpius has a steely look in his eye, and Albus says it anyway. “bisexual.” 

That is, apparently, not what Scorpius was expecting as his usually pale complexion seems to whiten even more. “What?” his voice sounds panicked, and Albus rushes to reassure him. 

“I didn’t mean to see it but you left the tab open again, and I didn’t know whether to say anything.” Albus realises that that probably isn’t sufficient, as Scorpius is still looking at him like he wants him to say something else. Albus reaches out tentatively and takes Scorpius’ hand. “It’s okay that you are, I don’t mind.” 

Some of the tension leaves Scorpius’ shoulders and he smiles slightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just... I didn’t really know how. And I wasn’t sure until right this week that I was ready to tell you. I’ve never told anyone.” 

“You don’t need to be sorry for anything Scor, I understand.” Albus says, and then Scorpius smiles properly and surges forward to hug Albus. Albus hugs him back tightly, gets another nose full of Scorpius’ shampoo and it makes him realise he wants to bring up the _other_ thing that he saw. He pulls away from Scorpius and settles down again on the duvet. 

“There was something else as well,” he begins delicately, “something about... well I think it was about... me.” 

Scorpius’ entire complexion really does blanch this time, and the panic comes back full force. “Oh no, Albus I’m so sorry.” When Scorpius goes into this kind of panic, Albus knows that he can’t keep still. Right on cue, Scorpius jumps off the bed and starts pacing, twisting his hands together. “I thought I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how and I don’t want to ruin anything because you’re my best friend-” 

Albus can tell Scorpius is heading for full blown terror. He scrambles off the bed as well and stops in front of Scorpius so he will stop pacing, takes his hands to still their movement. “It’s okay, Scorpius, it’s fine. You don’t need to be sorry. Calm down. Take a deep breath for me.” 

Some of the anxiety seems to fade from Scorpius’ eyes before he closes them and takes a deep but shaky breath. Albus just watches him and realises there’s another way he can reassure Scorpius, a way that can stop both their anguish. He lets go of Scorpius’ hands and moves a hand up to cup Scorpius’ cheek. Scorpius’ eyes fly open and he looks at Albus with a tentative expression, still somehow guarded even though that’s not Albus’ intention at all. 

“I really fancy you too.” Albus says clearly, as though acknowledging these feelings and deciding to say it has calmed something tumultuous in his soul that he didn’t even know was there. Albus is hoping for a kiss, or at the very least for Scorpius’ face to split into a brilliant grin, but instead Scorpius shifts his gaze away. 

“You don’t have to say that, it’s okay.” Scorpius says, taking Albus’ hand off his face and moving as though to turn away from him. 

“I’m not _just saying it_.” Albus insists, grabbing Scorpius’ arm and forcing him back round. “I would never do something like that. Scorpius, it’s always been you for me. Always.” 

Scorpius turns to look back at him properly, his eyes searching Albus’ face as though he’s looking for a sign of deception or dishonesty. He doesn’t seem to find it though, as he takes a step back towards Albus. “Really?” 

“Really.” Albus says firmly, making sure to leave no room for Scorpius’ doubt and anxiety. Finally, Scorpius’ does smile, broadly, his eyes sparkling, and Albus thinks he might just faint on the spot. 

“Can I...?” Scorpius trails off, but brings his hand up to Albus’ face and brushes his lips lightly with his thumb. Albus nods numbly and then Scorpius is kissing him and all the times Albus has imagined this moment haven’t prepared him for it. He presses up on his tiptoes to kiss Scorpius back as well as he can, sliding his hands into Scorpius’ still-damp-but-always-soft hair as Scorpius’ hands find his waist to pull him impossibly closer. 

They pull apart a moment later and Scorpius is smiling like he’s been handed the world. Albus is entirely certain he knows how Scorpius feels. Something calm and right seems to have settled inside him as he takes Scorpius’ hand and walks back over to the bed. They sit back down on their pillows, curl up side by side as they always have, as though nothing monumental and life changing has happened. 

Scorpius is still smiling, and Albus’ heart goes a little fluttery at the idea that _he’s_ the one responsible for putting that on his face. Scorpius reaches out with his free to hand to trace gentle circles on the back of Albus’ hand. 

“So, I did it wrong again?” he asks, and Albus is confused because as far as he is concerned that kiss was very, very right. “I mean the google thing. You said you saw what I searched but I thought I'd done it on the private bit?” 

“You still have to close the tab.” Albus explains, even though there is nothing he would like to discuss less right now than Muggle technology. 

“I’ll get it right one day.” Scorpius says confidently and Albus smiles because there is no doubt in his mind that his Slytherin friend (Merlin, Albus hopes they can be more than friends now) will do absolutely anything he sets his mind to and that includes working out how to use the internet. 

“I’m kind of glad you didn’t today though.” Albus confesses shyly. 

“Me too. I think I would have plucked up the courage to tell you one day though.” 

“You absolutely would not have!” Albus insists, laughing, and Scorpius laughs too. 

“Perhaps on our last day of Hogwarts when it wouldn’t have mattered if you’d rejected me.” 

“I would never.” Albus says softly. Scorpius stops his drawing of Albus’ skin to reach up and cup his face gently. He looks the same way he did when he asked to kiss Albus but he doesn’t make any movement so Albus decides to take initiative and leans forward to kiss him first this time. 

When they part Scorpius rests his forehead gently against Albus’ and closes his eyes. Albus has to bite his lip to stop another grin taking over his face. 

“I was trying to tell you today you know. But I kept changing my mind.” Scorpius says into the silence a moment later, pulling back to look Albus face on. 

“I might have guessed that when I saw what you searched.” Albus admits, squeezing Scorpius’ hand where they’re still joined. “Did you really think I’d mind?” 

Scorpius shakes his head emphatically. “I didn’t think you’d mind, but I worried that you might look at me differently.” 

“I mean, I have a little but in a good way. In a… maybe we can be more than friends way?” Albus says hopefully, and Scorpius’ relief is palpable. 

“Well I know I’d really like that.” 

“Me too.” Albus grins and Scorpius grins back, leans forward to press a kiss to Albus’ nose. 

“We should have a proper conversation about that but also I think I’ve had enough talking about feelings for one day.” Albus says once Scorpius has settled back against the pillows to gaze at him in the way only Scorpius can. 

“I think so too. And I’m kind of exhausted.” Scorpius says, and Albus nods in agreement. He didn’t know confessing so much would take such a weight off his shoulders but also leave him so emotionally tired. After a moment of hesitation, Scorpius adds. “Do you want me to sleep somewhere else?” 

“Why?” Albus asks, confused. 

Scorpius’ cheeks seem to flush slightly. “Well the parameters of our relationship have changed. I just thought you might be uncomfortable with me sharing your bed.” 

“I’m not, are you okay with it?” Albus asks, privately thinking that that might be the first time he’s ever heard someone say the word ‘parameter’ in a real life conversation and really he shouldn’t be surprised that it’s come from Scorpius. 

Scorpius nods happily in response to Albus’ question and they both snuggle down beneath Albus’ quilt. They are still facing each other, and Albus wonders if he is allowed to get closer now, but he’s not sure how to say the words. 

“What are you thinking about?” Scorpius asks softly, reaching out with his thumb to smooth the lines that Albus hadn’t noticed he’d been frowning into his forehead. 

“Just wondering if… well I mean it’s a bit cold.” Albus says pathetically, as though it’s not the middle of summer. Scorpius arches a perfect, white blond eyebrow. 

“Do you want a hug Albus?” he asks, and Albus nods, relieved – not for the first time – that this boy understands him perfectly. 

Scorpius shifts around until he’s on his back and holds out an arm, glancing towards Albus. “Come on then.” 

Albus happily wriggles over, slots an arm around Scorpius’ waist as Scorpius’ arm curls around his shoulders. He rests his head on Scorpius’ chest and hears the comforting, steady beating of his heart. He feels Scorpius press a kiss to the top of his head and looks up at him. 

“Do I get a goodnight kiss as well?” he asks, and Scorpius laughs. 

“Don’t push your luck.” he says mildly but then grins widely and leans forward as Albus leans up for their lips to meet together again. 

They pull away a moment later and Albus settles back down on Scorpius’ chest, thinking it will take a lifetime for the drumming of his heart to calm down. 

A lifetime he is more than willing to share with Scorpius Malfoy, if he’ll have him. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, and please leave kudos or comments if you want - I really appreciate each and every one! thank you!
> 
> you can find me on Twitter at: @scorperion21


End file.
